UK businesses turn to multiple cloud providers

Many UK businesses are turning to multiple cloud providers to manage IT costs and have access to a flexible menu of services, according to a new report published by Information Services Group (ISG).

The ISG Provider Lens™ Cloud Transformation/Operation Services & XaaS Report for the UK in 2019 finds large UK businesses trading in their old capital expenditure IT models and embracing multi-cloud strategies with public cloud providers. Using several cloud services helps UK companies improve their speed to market and gives them cost flexibility, the report said.

One large UK financial services firm uses one cloud provider for its data warehousing and communications platform, another provider for application testing and development, and a third to run enterprise cloud software in specific locations, the report noted.

“This new, complex, multi-cloud, multi-skilled approach is now the standard in business and a key trend driving enterprise organizations,” said Barry Matthews, partner and head of ISG in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Nordics.

Many businesses have different workload requirements for performance and for data protection, making multi-cloud or hybrid cloud models attractive, the report said. Many medium-sized companies, however, lack the time or expertise needed to operate multi-cloud or hybrid cloud environments and instead are turning to managed service providers to help them on their cloud journey.

Managed Service Providers (MSPs) and other providers are essential to help businesses understand complex cloud services and the thousands of new cloud offerings available every year, the report said.

Among other key findings, the report noted a continuing contraction in the hyperscale Infrastructure-as-a-Service market, with providers building cloud practices primarily around Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

IBM is named a Leader in four of the six quadrants, while Atos, HCL and Microsoft are named a Leader in three quadrants. Accenture, Capgemini, Claranet, DXC, Fujitsu, Infosys, TCS and Wipro are Leaders in two quadrants.